Post by John on May 12, 2006 11:29:50 GMT -4
Insider: With D-Lee out, Baker's Cubs stumble along
By Scott Miller
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
SAN FRANCISCO -- The cast certainly is more festive than the injury. All-Star Derrek Lee's broken wrist is encased in a cast colored, as Lee calls it, "Cubs Blue."
It matches the color of his Cubs batting practice jersey perfectly.
Also, his mood.
"This is horrible," Lee said. "This is bad. Right now, it seems like there's no light at the end of the tunnel."
Lee, who has played in no fewer than 158 of his teams' 162 games in all but one of the past six seasons, isn't expected back until at least mid-June.
The Cubs, unless they turn things around very soon, will not be expected back until 2007.
Horrible? Bad?
Everybody knew that life without Lee would be difficult. But since he left Chicago's game in Dodger Stadium on April 19 following a collision at first base with L.A.'s Rafael Furcal, it has been exceptionally wretched. There's more life in a cemetery than in the Cubs' lineup right now.
"I didn't think we'd struggle like this," said manager Dusty Baker, whose club is 6-14 in Lee's absence. "I'm not immune to struggling, but I certainly don't like struggling."
In getting soundly trashed 9-3 in San Francisco on Thursday, the Cubs put the finishing touches on a 1-8 trip, their worst nine-game road swing since May 1981.
The Cubs have squeezed out more than three runs in only one of their past 13 games. Until they finally busted out with two runs in the eighth inning here at AT&T Park on Wednesday, they were 7-for-65 (.108) with runners in scoring position on this trip.
At midweek, the Cubs ranked 15th in the NL in on-base percentage (.306), 15th in slugging percentage (.374) and 15th in home runs (26).
They had scored fewer runs (128) than anybody in the National League and, in the majors, only Kansas City (121) had scored fewer.
"Obviously, Derrek is a great player," Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said. "I think what happens is you've got a lot of good guys trying to do a little too much. (Aramis) Ramirez, (Juan) Pierre, (Michael) Barrett, (Todd) Walker ... you're talking good players, players who have been good for awhile.
"The first few days after Derrek left we played OK. But then it turned, and I think guys are subconsciously trying to force things."
The Cubs thought they had solved their leadoff problems when they acquired Pierre from Florida over the winter. Instead, Pierre is hitting only .232 and, more alarming, his on-base percentage is only .274.
Third baseman Ramirez is slumping at .217 with only six homers and 14 RBI. Catcher Barrett (.292) has been soft -- when he knocked in a run Tuesday, it was his first RBI since April 21. And Baker intends to give second baseman Walker (.294) a day off when the Cubs open a homestand Friday against San Diego because he thinks Walker's confidence is a little off right now.
Increasingly, Baker has been under fire in Chicago. But to be fair, without Lee, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, the Cubs are missing three integral pieces -- not to mention the fact that, in those three, $27.6 million of the Cubs' $94 million 2006 payroll is currently disabled.
"Hey, I ain't crying," Baker said. "You've got to do your thing the best that you can. If people want to talk and criticize, that's on them.
"I'm doing the best I can. Sometimes your best isn't good enough."
Baker has tried leaving Pierre in the leadoff spot to work out his problems. In San Francisco, he tried bumping Pierre down to second and using Ronny Cedeno in the leadoff slot.
He has tried being aggressive, but when the Cubs swiped five bases against San Diego last Saturday, they still mustered only one run. The Padres won 2-1.
"I believe in being aggressive, but it's not easy being aggressive when you're getting two-out singles," Baker says.
Lee, who spent much of last season vying for a Triple Crown, finished third in the NL Most Valuable Player balloting. He batted .335, rapped 46 homers and collected 107 RBI.
This season, in his first 14 games, he slammed three homers, collected 10 RBI and was batting .318.
Now, he's attempting to remain philosophical while he watches, but it's certainly not the easiest thing he has ever done.
"We're in one of those skids where we're struggling to score runs, and it's as simple as that," Lee said. "Once or twice a year, teams go through this. We just haven't been able to scratch out runs."
So the Cubs drag their 15-19 record into the weekend. Baker is trying to maneuver his club back to .500, then go from there. Hendry is attempting to close a deal to bring another hitter aboard, a temp in Lee's absence, someone like Baltimore's Jeff Conine. But Conine owns trade veto powers, so the process continues.
It's no secret that if the Cubs don't score, it won't matter when -- or if -- Wood and Prior return. But aside from the obvious, Hendry says there is nothing in particular that alarms him right now.
"There's no lack of effort," he said. "I know the guys are giving it their best shot. Today was the first day that (rookie pitcher Sean) Marshall had a rough go. It would have been nice to win today after winning (Wednesday) night.
"But teams can get hot. Philadelphia was on a great run. San Diego was 7-15 and then they went on a great run (a nine-game winning streak)."
Conversely, he noted, the Cubs aren't the only ones in the division in the dumper right now. Until beating the Dodgers on Thursday, Houston had lost six in a row.
"You have to hold things together until the guys get their health back," Hendry says.
And hope that, at the same time, everyone's mental health remains stable.
On pitching
The dope on a busy week of pitching developments:
* Scouts are buzzing that New York Yankees lefty Randy Johnson looks finished after Boston hammered him for seven runs in 3 2/3 innings Tuesday -- a game in which Johnson also walked five hitters and threw two wild pitches. He is rapidly losing both his intimidation factor as well as the extra hop on his fastball. Evidence: He has fanned only 16 hitters over his past five starts -- his lowest five-game total since August and September 1989. Johnson also is in a stretch in which he has walked 11 batters over his past three starts, a first for him since July 2002. All of which should be noted by one Roger Clemens, who, at 43, should think several times about signing with an AL East club and having to face those lineups every outing.
* The most eagerly anticipated start this week is in Philadelphia, where rookie Cole Hamels has been summoned from the minors to replace Ryan Madson for Friday night's game against Cincinnati. Hamels, the Phillies' most talked-about pitching prospect in decades, is 14-4 with a 1.43 ERA in his professional career and has allowed just two homers during his entire time in professional baseball. This season at Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre, he allowed just one run, walked just one hitter and struck out 36 in 23 innings pitched.
* The Dodgers have demoted veteran lefty Odalis Perez to the bullpen, thanks to his 6.90 ERA and to the fact that, before going on the bereavement list, he coughed up a six-run lead in just one inning at Arizona on May 2. You know they're thin when Aaron Sele is called on to replace him.
* Among other things, new Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon has proven he's not going to sit back and take it when the heretofore terrible Devil Rays pitching staff starts to melt down. One scout who recently watched the Devil Rays came away both shocked and impressed at Maddon's penchant for yanking pitchers in the middle of an at-bat. It is not uncommon to see Maddon, who also employed a very inventive shift against Boston slugger David Ortiz earlier this season, go to the bullpen on a 2-and-0 count.
* Since Curt Schilling threw 133 pitches in 40-degree weather in Cleveland on April 27, including the seventh inning he worked that night and three starts since, he's 1-2 with a 6.27 ERA. Meanwhile, the Red Sox rearranged their rotation for this week's series with the Yankees so that Josh Beckett, Schilling and Tim Wakefield would start -- leaving Matt Clement, who originally had been scheduled to start, both out of the loop and very angry.
* That video of Bronson Arroyo making his sportscasting debut for a local Cincinnati affiliate that you can link to from our homepage? Arroyo graded himself a B. Cincinnati news anchor Kit Andrews said "the girls in the newsroom give him an A." Click here to see for yourself.
Bye, Bye Birdie
Upon being slapped with a four-game suspension this week for charging Angels pitcher John Lackey on the mound, Oakland catcher Jason Kendall complained that "Major League Baseball has turned into a badminton league."
He doesn't know the half of it.
"I'm in a badminton league at home at the Denver Athletic Club," Chicago Cubs closer Ryan Dempster says. "I probably play once a week in the offseason."
Get out.
Nope, Dempster says. He's dead serious.
"Those guys are pretty good," he says. "It's funny. They take it super seriously. I'm just there to get some hand-eye coordination in, and a little workout in."
Dempster, who has been a member of the DAC since 2003, says he always signs up to play singles, opting to skip the doubles matches.
"I play one-on-one," he says. "I'm always scared someone will whack me in the head with a racket if I play doubles. I'm not that good."
The average number of players in any given tournament, he says, is roughly 20. His best finish is somewhere around the middle of the pack.
His strength?
"I'd say my backhand, to be honest with you. I'm pretty good with it."
Did he take offense at Kendall's comment?
"No, I thought it was awesome. I thought it was an awesome comment."
Otherwise, don't mistake him for a badminton professional, Dempster says.
"They're really good," he says of his competitors. "I'm just good at whacking it."
By Scott Miller
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
SAN FRANCISCO -- The cast certainly is more festive than the injury. All-Star Derrek Lee's broken wrist is encased in a cast colored, as Lee calls it, "Cubs Blue."
It matches the color of his Cubs batting practice jersey perfectly.
Also, his mood.
"This is horrible," Lee said. "This is bad. Right now, it seems like there's no light at the end of the tunnel."
Lee, who has played in no fewer than 158 of his teams' 162 games in all but one of the past six seasons, isn't expected back until at least mid-June.
The Cubs, unless they turn things around very soon, will not be expected back until 2007.
Horrible? Bad?
Everybody knew that life without Lee would be difficult. But since he left Chicago's game in Dodger Stadium on April 19 following a collision at first base with L.A.'s Rafael Furcal, it has been exceptionally wretched. There's more life in a cemetery than in the Cubs' lineup right now.
"I didn't think we'd struggle like this," said manager Dusty Baker, whose club is 6-14 in Lee's absence. "I'm not immune to struggling, but I certainly don't like struggling."
In getting soundly trashed 9-3 in San Francisco on Thursday, the Cubs put the finishing touches on a 1-8 trip, their worst nine-game road swing since May 1981.
The Cubs have squeezed out more than three runs in only one of their past 13 games. Until they finally busted out with two runs in the eighth inning here at AT&T Park on Wednesday, they were 7-for-65 (.108) with runners in scoring position on this trip.
At midweek, the Cubs ranked 15th in the NL in on-base percentage (.306), 15th in slugging percentage (.374) and 15th in home runs (26).
They had scored fewer runs (128) than anybody in the National League and, in the majors, only Kansas City (121) had scored fewer.
"Obviously, Derrek is a great player," Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said. "I think what happens is you've got a lot of good guys trying to do a little too much. (Aramis) Ramirez, (Juan) Pierre, (Michael) Barrett, (Todd) Walker ... you're talking good players, players who have been good for awhile.
"The first few days after Derrek left we played OK. But then it turned, and I think guys are subconsciously trying to force things."
The Cubs thought they had solved their leadoff problems when they acquired Pierre from Florida over the winter. Instead, Pierre is hitting only .232 and, more alarming, his on-base percentage is only .274.
Third baseman Ramirez is slumping at .217 with only six homers and 14 RBI. Catcher Barrett (.292) has been soft -- when he knocked in a run Tuesday, it was his first RBI since April 21. And Baker intends to give second baseman Walker (.294) a day off when the Cubs open a homestand Friday against San Diego because he thinks Walker's confidence is a little off right now.
Increasingly, Baker has been under fire in Chicago. But to be fair, without Lee, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, the Cubs are missing three integral pieces -- not to mention the fact that, in those three, $27.6 million of the Cubs' $94 million 2006 payroll is currently disabled.
"Hey, I ain't crying," Baker said. "You've got to do your thing the best that you can. If people want to talk and criticize, that's on them.
"I'm doing the best I can. Sometimes your best isn't good enough."
Baker has tried leaving Pierre in the leadoff spot to work out his problems. In San Francisco, he tried bumping Pierre down to second and using Ronny Cedeno in the leadoff slot.
He has tried being aggressive, but when the Cubs swiped five bases against San Diego last Saturday, they still mustered only one run. The Padres won 2-1.
"I believe in being aggressive, but it's not easy being aggressive when you're getting two-out singles," Baker says.
Lee, who spent much of last season vying for a Triple Crown, finished third in the NL Most Valuable Player balloting. He batted .335, rapped 46 homers and collected 107 RBI.
This season, in his first 14 games, he slammed three homers, collected 10 RBI and was batting .318.
Now, he's attempting to remain philosophical while he watches, but it's certainly not the easiest thing he has ever done.
"We're in one of those skids where we're struggling to score runs, and it's as simple as that," Lee said. "Once or twice a year, teams go through this. We just haven't been able to scratch out runs."
So the Cubs drag their 15-19 record into the weekend. Baker is trying to maneuver his club back to .500, then go from there. Hendry is attempting to close a deal to bring another hitter aboard, a temp in Lee's absence, someone like Baltimore's Jeff Conine. But Conine owns trade veto powers, so the process continues.
It's no secret that if the Cubs don't score, it won't matter when -- or if -- Wood and Prior return. But aside from the obvious, Hendry says there is nothing in particular that alarms him right now.
"There's no lack of effort," he said. "I know the guys are giving it their best shot. Today was the first day that (rookie pitcher Sean) Marshall had a rough go. It would have been nice to win today after winning (Wednesday) night.
"But teams can get hot. Philadelphia was on a great run. San Diego was 7-15 and then they went on a great run (a nine-game winning streak)."
Conversely, he noted, the Cubs aren't the only ones in the division in the dumper right now. Until beating the Dodgers on Thursday, Houston had lost six in a row.
"You have to hold things together until the guys get their health back," Hendry says.
And hope that, at the same time, everyone's mental health remains stable.
On pitching
The dope on a busy week of pitching developments:
* Scouts are buzzing that New York Yankees lefty Randy Johnson looks finished after Boston hammered him for seven runs in 3 2/3 innings Tuesday -- a game in which Johnson also walked five hitters and threw two wild pitches. He is rapidly losing both his intimidation factor as well as the extra hop on his fastball. Evidence: He has fanned only 16 hitters over his past five starts -- his lowest five-game total since August and September 1989. Johnson also is in a stretch in which he has walked 11 batters over his past three starts, a first for him since July 2002. All of which should be noted by one Roger Clemens, who, at 43, should think several times about signing with an AL East club and having to face those lineups every outing.
* The most eagerly anticipated start this week is in Philadelphia, where rookie Cole Hamels has been summoned from the minors to replace Ryan Madson for Friday night's game against Cincinnati. Hamels, the Phillies' most talked-about pitching prospect in decades, is 14-4 with a 1.43 ERA in his professional career and has allowed just two homers during his entire time in professional baseball. This season at Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre, he allowed just one run, walked just one hitter and struck out 36 in 23 innings pitched.
* The Dodgers have demoted veteran lefty Odalis Perez to the bullpen, thanks to his 6.90 ERA and to the fact that, before going on the bereavement list, he coughed up a six-run lead in just one inning at Arizona on May 2. You know they're thin when Aaron Sele is called on to replace him.
* Among other things, new Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon has proven he's not going to sit back and take it when the heretofore terrible Devil Rays pitching staff starts to melt down. One scout who recently watched the Devil Rays came away both shocked and impressed at Maddon's penchant for yanking pitchers in the middle of an at-bat. It is not uncommon to see Maddon, who also employed a very inventive shift against Boston slugger David Ortiz earlier this season, go to the bullpen on a 2-and-0 count.
* Since Curt Schilling threw 133 pitches in 40-degree weather in Cleveland on April 27, including the seventh inning he worked that night and three starts since, he's 1-2 with a 6.27 ERA. Meanwhile, the Red Sox rearranged their rotation for this week's series with the Yankees so that Josh Beckett, Schilling and Tim Wakefield would start -- leaving Matt Clement, who originally had been scheduled to start, both out of the loop and very angry.
* That video of Bronson Arroyo making his sportscasting debut for a local Cincinnati affiliate that you can link to from our homepage? Arroyo graded himself a B. Cincinnati news anchor Kit Andrews said "the girls in the newsroom give him an A." Click here to see for yourself.
Bye, Bye Birdie
Upon being slapped with a four-game suspension this week for charging Angels pitcher John Lackey on the mound, Oakland catcher Jason Kendall complained that "Major League Baseball has turned into a badminton league."
He doesn't know the half of it.
"I'm in a badminton league at home at the Denver Athletic Club," Chicago Cubs closer Ryan Dempster says. "I probably play once a week in the offseason."
Get out.
Nope, Dempster says. He's dead serious.
"Those guys are pretty good," he says. "It's funny. They take it super seriously. I'm just there to get some hand-eye coordination in, and a little workout in."
Dempster, who has been a member of the DAC since 2003, says he always signs up to play singles, opting to skip the doubles matches.
"I play one-on-one," he says. "I'm always scared someone will whack me in the head with a racket if I play doubles. I'm not that good."
The average number of players in any given tournament, he says, is roughly 20. His best finish is somewhere around the middle of the pack.
His strength?
"I'd say my backhand, to be honest with you. I'm pretty good with it."
Did he take offense at Kendall's comment?
"No, I thought it was awesome. I thought it was an awesome comment."
Otherwise, don't mistake him for a badminton professional, Dempster says.
"They're really good," he says of his competitors. "I'm just good at whacking it."